canada

I dont know what school you went to, but i did not learn the 50 states or the cities. Didnt learn anything about the USA. This is CANADA

Why would we care if Americans know anything about us? Too many Canadians bitch about it. That makes us sound insecure. I love this country but I dont care if everyone else knows the complete geography and history of our country. If an American doesn't know the capital of Canada Canadians get all up in arms. But the truth is it's easy to make that mistake. Alot of people outside Canada think it's Toronto because it's the biggest city in the country. WHen I was in England people thought it was Toronto. SO it's not only Americans. Plus, many Americans do know alot about this country.

I learned a fair bit about the US in history class. I also learned a fair bit about Britain and France (actually more than I did about the US). Our history is so intertwined with theirs that it was kind of inevitable.

I never learned the fifty states or their capitals though, at least not in school. I never learned all of the presidents, but I did learn the important ones...or the ones that were important to Canada's history.

I don't know where you are from or how much they've changed the curriculum, Bacon. I do know that what you are saying doesn't match my reality or the reality of most of the other posters here.

Trust me, Americans don't know their geography, it is one of the most poorly taught subjects in the USA, unfortunately. I had to teach myself the provinces and territories of Canada. The only other country I had to memorize capitals and what not was the USSR when I was in sixth grade. Now that I teach sixth grade, at least in Ohio, the state curriculum does not ask us to have students memorize or study country maps for memorization, but to study map reading skills. For example, a student should be able to look at a geographic map of Quebec and be able to determine mountains, rivers, lakes, altitudes, etc by way of using the legend and logic. It is not relevant that they actually know whether or not Quebec even exists, just how to read the map.

I agree that in American Schools geographic studies should be more important ...........The reason there is not alot of information about Canada is the importance factor..........The teaching method is to learn more about you enemy........Than your friend........Which i dont agree with!

My point is that you shouldn't call a whole nation stupid. Granted many Americans dont know much about the geography of the rest of the world, but many Canadians dont know the geography of there own nation. I've met alot of people who dont know the capital of Saskatchewan, or the capital of the new territory, Nunavut. How many Canadians know the longest river in Canada, or the highest mountain? We point the finger (often the middle one) at Americans but do we realy know all that much about our own country.
Again I say, who cares if Americans know anything about this great country?

I never really learned too much about the states in school, But then again we only learned our earliest history. I wish Canadian schools taught more of our recent history. They talk a lot about our involvement tin WWI and WWII, but how many people have been taught about the gold rush in BC(Not the Klondike) , or the settlement of Alberta or Inuit histories. I've been reading about the history of my local area, since I was not born in this area. There is more than 200 years of history since the europeans showed up here, not to mention the Native history from before that. I think Canadians would have an even greater respect for this nation if they knew it's regonal histories. I found out not long ago that my grandfather, on my fathers side, was a booze runner during prohibition. He drove the good Canadian whiskey to the border for some of the New York families and from time to time ran booze to Capone's family too. It was the depression, people had to make a living anyway they could. The things we don't know about that came before can surprise.

Cool. My great-grandfather turned down a gig running whiskey from Yorkton to the US via Moose Jaw. Basically he would have been working for Al Capone, though he likely never heard that name. He didn't turn it down out of morality or anything...he turned it down because he had a wife and 11 kids and rum-runners had a bad habit of not coming home.

Our history is very interesting and something that few people know. My grandfather remembered natives gathering in the Touchwood Hills...thousands of them. They'd been doing it forever, coming together to trade and socialize. The ruins of two Hudson Bay posts are still there. The Hudson's Bay company put one post on each common entrance and exit to the area.

When I was living in Battleford I printed some glass plates for an elderly man. Tepees for as far as the eye could see. RCMP and NWMP sitting on their horses, trying to be still. Rough looking men with buckskin jackets and buffalo guns trying to look even tougher than they were. Farmers in their sunday best. His father and grandfather had taken them. I hope to hell those made it into a museum, but they're likely in a grandchild's attic or have been tossed in the dump.

Much of Canada's history is that ephemeral. So much of it was made and determined by people who were not great leaders or politicians, just people trying to get by. They took a few snapshots but didn't read or write much. They helped each other a lot and expected nothing back.

It's where our national character comes from...that culture that we keep getting told doesn't exist. It separates from every other culture on earth, but we sedom acknowledge it.

I very much agree with all you wrote Rev. Our history is so rich and varied. There is a place west of Quesnel called Barkerville, I would imagine some of you have heard that name before. About three quarters of the way out, there is the grave of Charles Blessing. He is supposed to be from Montana somewhere. He and a friend started out from Quesnel to go to the gold fields around Barkerville, They met up with another man who was also going there. Charles friend had to stay in Quesnel for a few extra days and so Charles went with this other man, (I can't recall his name right now) and his friend would meet them there. When the friend got to Barkerville 4 or 5 days later Charles had not arrived. A search was started and a few days later Blessing was found murdered just off the trail. (back in those days people walked or went in on horse). Blessing's companion was later found in Quesnel Forks, tried and shot for the murder. The reason this story kinda got to me is that Charles Blessing was murdered 100 years to the day before my birthday. His grave is located where it is believed he was murdered.

I'm not Canadian. The most I've read on Canadian history has been about Quebec, Jesuit missionaries, voyageurs etc. mainly because I'm interested in French and Hispanic North America. However, I recently bought a used textbook on the history of the prarie provinces and am looking forward to reading it.

I wish we could learn more history in high schools. I know it's not everyone's favourite subject, but that's usually because all people remember is their teacher reading straight from the text about the boring stuff that has no interest or captures people's attention. The Conquest was something I learned about myself, we were too busy learning about trade and relations with France instead in class. The history of the NWMP? We learned breifly about the march west, that's it. What I can't believe is that in Alberta they don't have history in the high schools. They have Social Studies straight through. It's got some history, but it's mostly studying cultures and stuff like that, how does that help you learn about your world and how it works?